College financial aid requests are up 18 percent in Oregon

Steven Gibbons / The OregonianAron Patton studies on the Willamette University campus. Rising college costs and a sagging economy are hitting students hard.

More than 100,000 Oregon students who need help to pay for college are flooding the state's campuses this fall, draining the $72 million that the Legislature set aside for financial aid this year.

Applications for aid are up 18 percent in Oregon and 16 percent nationally from last year as the economy worsens, family budgets tighten and college costs continue to rise.

So many more college students qualified for state grants in Oregon this year that the program expects to come up $4 million short unless the Legislature's emergency board steps in to fill the gap when it meets today and Friday.

Oregon doubled the money for college grants this year, increased the amount of each award and included many middle-income families for the first time. But it is not enough to meet the pent-up demand.

Carlota Araujo, who starts Monday as a junior at Oregon State University, looked at loans or attending a community college this fall before she learned that she qualified for the university's new Bridge to Success program.

She is one of about 2,400 low-income OSU students -- 900 more than expected -- who are getting free tuition and fees this year through a combination of state, federal and university money. About half those students also get help with books and supplies.

Araujo's mother injured her back over the summer and is out of work, so her parents could not afford to help her pay for college. The 20-year-old from Umatilla planned to work 20 hours a week in a dining hall, but it wasn't enough.

"Now that I have this scholarship, it's going to help me a lot this year," she said. "I didn't know what I was going to do."

Historically, college enrollment -- especially at community colleges -- is tied to the economy: More people turn to higher education when jobs are harder to find. That is true across Oregon this fall, with colleges and universities reporting enrollment surges fed by large numbers of high school graduates.

Oregon mounted a TV, radio and Internet ad campaign to spread the word about the additional grant money, which also helped draw more applicants.

OSU and the University of Oregon supplemented state and federal grants with institutional money to fill the gaps for low-income students.

The goal: Help more students from diverse backgrounds be able to afford to go to college.

Over the past decade, minority student enrollment in Oregon's seven public universities has increased slightly, but it remains below increases of minorities among high school graduates. University officials say they also want to attract more students who are from rural areas and who are the first in their families to attend college.

This week, 415 freshmen are arriving at the UO in Eugene with the promise of financial and academic support for four academic years. The new PathwayOregon program covers tuition and fees for low-income students. About 28 of the highest-achieving students with the biggest financial need also get free housing.

Without the tuition help, "I would have been in some real trouble," said Dennis O'Connell, an 18-year-old freshman from Roseburg.

He wants to pay for college without help from his father, a general contractor whose work has slowed with the construction business and the economy. He plans to work and take out a loan to pay for his living expenses.

"I don't think anything would have stopped me from coming up and doing this," O'Connell, a high school valedictorian, said. Still, he added, "It's really important that I got that support of PathwayOregon."

As of Aug. 29, financial aid applications in Oregon were up 23 percent at community colleges, 7 percent at public universities and slightly less than 1 percent at private colleges and universities, according to the Oregon Student Assistance Commission.

A record 101,125 undergraduate Oregon residents considering at least one college in the state applied for financial aid by the end of August, beating the previous high of 94,728 for a similar time period in 2003.

"We're very much in unknown territory right now," said Susan Degen, administrator of the Oregon Opportunity Grant program.

It is not surprising to see the biggest surge at community colleges, because "those are the access institutions," said David Longanecker, president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. "Those are the students on the margin of attendance."

At Clackamas Community College, where financial aid applications are up about 14 percent, more students are working and enrolling part time because of the bad economy, said Fayne Griffiths, director of student financial services.

"Now they are having to fit their school around jobs," she said.

Araujo, the OSU student, said some of her friends are thinking twice about coming to school.

"Money is an issue to come," she said, "but I guess if you really want it you just find a way to do it."